Toronto – acclaimed the most diverse city in the world and home to six million Canadians – has been chosen as the host city of the 7th Parliament of the World’s Religions, to be convened in November 1-7, 2018. The selection of Toronto was made by the Board of Trustees of the governing organization at its April 2017 meeting.

The following is a chapter from MacKeen’s book recounting how she finally meets the descendants of Sheikh Hammud al-Aekleh, whose family welcomed in her grandfather, saving his life. Some members of the family that greeted her in 2007 today are Syrian refugees themselves.

TIO is now on YouTube! What is on our channel? Since the launch of TIO’s new website in September 2016, each issue has included “feature videos” which are included in one of that month’s articles or seemed important to share with TIO readers.

We often make the mistake of identifying religious vitality with assent to particular beliefs. In this process, we forget that intellectual assent to beliefs is merely one element of religious experience. I was reminded of this fact recently when I observed the Procession of Santa Ana in Antigua, Guatemala.

Last year, while facilitating an experiential peacebuilding workshop, I invited the participants to try a listening exercise. Simple idea – simple activity. Participants were asked to divide into pairs, one listener and one speaker. The listeners were asked to spend three minutes listening to the speaker on climate change – keep eye contact, make encouraging gestures and sounds, but don’t interrupt. Then switch.

The vicar of the parish where I was a curate always wore a cassock. He said it was “the only classless garment.” He did not wish to be identified with either the wealthy or poorer members of the parish. I had not at the time realised how quickly people form an opinion of you by what you wear.

I often tell people that I have the easiest interfaith job in the world because I work with kids. It’s easy to assume that kids are too young to wonder about life’s “big questions,” but my experience suggests the opposite. Kids frequently have lots of thoughts about how the world came to be, about the nature of the Divine, and about how one might begin to understand and connect with the Great Mystery.

You can understand the power of one individual to make a difference when you meet 39 year-old Marium Mohuiddin – feisty, independent, and articulate – proud to be a Muslim and not afraid to take on the big issues of our times.

My first memories of interfaith encounters were innocent and rather comical. I grew up in a bubble – an almost exclusively white, Christian, rural/suburban region of Ohio. Everyone that I knew went to church, or so it seemed.

I moved into a convent 10 years ago this summer. My roommates were not Catholic sisters, but other recent college graduates, who sometimes acted a little too much as if we were still living in a college dorm. But most of our time was dedicated to service of our community.

What does living life as an ‘interfaith activist’ mean? Millions have joined the cause in recent months, so we can well ask ourselves: What do interfaith activists share in common within our own communities and in the world? A quick, simplistic answer might be that all of us are striving towards peacemaking with ‘the other.’

AGAINST RACISMValarie Kaur's plea to her country in the times of Donald J. Trump

BUILDING PEACE IN DIFFICULT TIMESLearning from global actvists

IMMIGRANT VOICES - ANONYMOUSThe Seventh Art Stand and Beau Willimon’s Action Group Network have produced three anti-Islamophobia public service announcements which recontextualize the personal stories of American Muslims who have experienced Islamophobia through the sympathetic image and intimate voice of fellow Americans who are privileged not to have those experiences. All three can be seen here.